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Blackest Night was a series of awesome moments spread throughout an otherwise pointless story, and issue #8 was no different. I found myself enjoying the "big" moments every few pages (yes, I still get excited over the Anti-Monitor), and even tittering over the foldout splash page ("Osiris? SQUEEEEEEEEE!"), but those could not save the unfocused narrative. Did Nekron even do anything besides talk a lot and tangle with Sinestro? At the end of the day, this is yet another overlong setup for the next big event rather than a satisfying story in its own right.

The saving grace of the series has been the art, and Ivan Reis knocks it out of the park this issue. The aforementioned fold-out splash page is a great example, but my favorite panels might have been those featuring the reunion of Aquaman and Mera. Reis managed to cram a ton of emotion into those handful of panels.

This is how a mega-event should be written. A lot of things happen and an ending is reached. At this point, you could stop reading comics forever and never wonder how the event finished.

Somebody asked where they should start if they wanted to get into Blackest Night. The answer is Blackest Night #1, but if you want to fully enjoy all that is happening, you have to start with Green Lantern: Rebirth. That is how far back the roots for this series go.

Somebody who only reads the Wickipedia recaps might very well say that it doesn't sound that good. That's because it is best enjoyed by reading it, not just summaries...something that seems to happen all too often. There is more physical and emotional impact through the direct involvement of watching a football game as opposed to read a story in a newspaper.

I suppose the DC haters, the Geoff Johns haters, and the Dan DiDio haters are going to find ways to tear this apart. More power to them. This is Johns's best work to date. Hopefully, we will get more of this in the future.

The art is superb. There are only a few places where it is not perfectly clear what is happening, not on every page, as is often the case today.

If you are a superhero fan, this is the best it gets for big events. On that basis, I give it a 9.9. It's almost perfect, and is on a par with Watchmen.